Happy New Years Eve! Recap from September to December 2013

Hello :) 

We have returned! I vowed to get a blog update up, and here it comes! The McKeown clan has been settling down nicely in good ole Rockville, MD. Butters has successfully barked at all who dare to cross his path, and Jocelyn has made two new friends in the neighborhood, Anja and Dominic. We do miss our State College friends dearly, but we are branching out. Ryan has made a good friend at work, named Brad. Jocelyn is especially jazzed about him, and calls him "B-wad"! Mama McKeown is still getting to the know the area, but all in all we are a happy Maryland family. Jocelyn apparently knows that we live in Maryland because she saw a map with a crab on the state and said "We live in Maryland daddy". She is one smart cookie. 

SEPTEMBER

We got ready for our new school by purchasing our first lunch box. Thanks to Auntie Colleen for the tip on these. Jocelyn chose the kitty. 

Our first school excursion was to the local farm where we met our first goat. Jocelyn, being the animal lover that she is, hugged it with gusto! We loved this farm, and learned a new word that day, 'chivo' = goat!

Later in the month, we visited Levittown for Benny's baptism :) He was quite the stud in his white tux, and Jocelyn loved patting his head saying "Hi Benny". She didn't cry this time when we got to hold him, and even tried to hold him herself. At the end of a very fun family mini-reunion, we went out to Gramps and Grammy's backyard and searched for bunnies. If you didn't know, Jocelyn is a huge fan of bunnies. She saw some, hence the electric, mouth-gaping look!

OCTOBER

This was a very, very fun month. Jocelyn's new school went all out teaching the kids about pumpkins, autumn, Halloween, letters and numbers. She learned a new song called "Pumpkin Pumpkin" that essentially asks the pumpkin why it's so big and round and stuck on the ground. She may break out into song if you ask her, but it's not guaranteed. We went back to our chivo farm, which by this time had grown acres and acres of apples and pumpkins. We chose some, and carved them later when Abuelo visited. J did not like that the pumpkins were dirty, hence the lovely face. For Halloween, J wanted to be Tinkerbell. She looked amazing, and insisted that she wear the dress during nap time and days later. She has abandoned her favorite princess, Princess Aurora, for Tinkerbell. We think she will reappear. And, to keep with the family Halloween theme, Ryan was a dapper Pirate, Abuelo was Captain Hook, Alisha was Tiger Lilly, and Butters was a Pirate Pug. We went around the neighborhood and had a great time. Who knows what we will be next year! Suggestions? I think Ryan wants to avoid anything with tights and sparkles. 

NOVEMBER

Part 1: Auntie Alisha got to see Benny, and loved every minute of it. He is the most amazing little boy :) Here he is in his overalls with the best smile ever. He loved showing me all the plush and jingly things around the house. I fully enjoyed eating and playing with him. Later, his foxy friend came to visit. 

Part 2: Gobble gobble! Jocelyn fully enjoyed eating turkey this year. We spent Thanksgiving with the McKeowns on dear geranium road and we had a blast. We got to see the Szathmary's and had a really nice, relaxing turkey day. Here are the great-grandkids with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Jocelyn recognizes them perfectly now and says their names. It's really neat to see her matching faces to names. We also got to see Grandma, Grandpop, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brian. We didn't get a picture, apologies, but the kids had a great time showing them toys too. J and B were really great together, and I can't wait to see what mischief these two get into next Thanksgiving.

DECEMBER

Here is a preview of the whole family trimming the tree at Grammy and Gramp's. Jocelyn is becoming more and more in love with pictures of herself, yes yes we know, but the positive is she is now smiling for the camera!! Jocelyn did not enjoy Santa that much, but we managed to bribe her with the promise of cookies if she would stand next to him. We managed to get a quick picture of her looking like a scared puppy. Ha! We will make a new post dedicated to the December adventures in Washington State, where we spent Christmas. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas :) 

Love,

McKeown Clan!!